Chapter 16: Woman of the Shack, The Need For Information, and Illness…
I'd like to re-start my Thanks Column. I couldn't stand not being able to thank my reviewers, but… now I will, once more. From now until the end of this story.
Akito slowly opens her eyes and rolls onto her back after awaking from her sleep. Her eyes were almost bloodshot and she was covered in droplets of sweat. They rolled off her skin at a sluggish pace, dampening the bed sheets just slightly. Akito narrows her eyes and then gradually sits up, against the backboard of the bed. "That wench… she woke me from my sleep…" her voice slowly fades even though it was full of strong, hatred-like emotion. "She… that Honda girl… is always disturbing me somehow! Freeing that monster, stealing my family, and now…destroying my dreams!" Akito exclaims, thrusting her right fist downward into the bed just to hear a spring rip loose and bounce around within the bedding. "Phft. I'll get back at her. I mean… doing what she did hurt her, and… she saw things she shouldn't have seen. Maybe… this can come to work to my advantage. I will make her normally peaceful dreams, nightmares…." Akito's final sentences were much quieter and a little calmer; it was as though her whole mind had been altered in some way. With a sigh, she shifts around and lies back on the bed completely, feeling the lump in the bed where the spring popped loose.
Looking out the window slowly, she sees the sun in its already risen position. It was completely up in the sky and gleaming with an eerie joy. It was far too happy a sight for Akito to lay eyes upon, so she closes the curtains to make her sleeping quarters much darker then they were just moments ago. "My, my… already the next day. Did that dream really last that long?" She asks herself as she changes into her daily clothes, which was always a kimono in whatever color that she felt like wearing. After being re-attired, Akito exits her room only to find Kureno sitting serenely in her living room, staring at a blank television since it was turned off.
"What are you doing here so late in the day, Kureno?" Akito asks, her eyes getting a little less narrow at the sight of Kureno. It actually made her gain the sense of joy.
He turns around and stares at her quietly, then pulls himself off the couch and onto his feet, facing in her direction. "I actually came over to make sure you were okay and feeling well. You have been leaving the house early lately and I guess…. I guess I assumed that you would do the same today. I'm sorry…" he bows his head as he offers his apology.
"Aw… worried about me?" Akito says, almost mockingly. "Well…" she walks closer to him and stops when she is beside him, "I'm just fine and I think its better if you stop assuming and just come here earlier from now on and check on me!" her tone of voice grew a little louder as she spoke and much more daunting. "What if I was dying! What…" she stops and thinks about what she can ask next and, after coming up with something, she says, "What if something went wrong with my plan and objective? MY DREAMS, KURENO!" Her voice was many times louder then before and the volume Kureno's ears were able to retain was exceeded greatly.
Kureno sighs, a slight groan hidden by his exhalation. "I'm sorry again, my dear Akito. From now on, I will come earlier to check up on you and your health. You're very right; you must be protected even in your sleep now. If the wrong person was to accidentally escape into your dreams, bad things can happen. Am I right?" he asks after reciting something that was sounding quite true to Akito.
Getting up onto her toes a little, Akito kisses Kureno's cheek and walks into the kitchen after doing so. "That's just what I thought. You know what I need… and… I think I can do with the protection. Now, make sure that in my sleep I show no signs of struggling or anger or pain. That way, if anything were to be happening you can quickly wake me up and I can enter the dream state once again with a little more strength. Hopefully… enough to kick that ass that is in that dream, out of it." Akito sounded much more sure of her safety now and she opens the refrigerator. Food and drink quickly find their way into her mouth and down her throat into her digestive system. With just a few gulps she re-enters the living room and sits on the couch, legs crossed and arms folded across her chest stubbornly. "Miss Honda is becoming quite a nuisance. Maybe… you can do something about it Kureno. Shut her up for good, maybe? Might it be possible… to have her body join her mothers… Have the buried together." Akito says this with a wide smile and a great deal of laughter. "This cracks me up!" Akito yells happily and Kureno merely nods, exiting the building with no type of sound whatsoever. But… that gave Akito a certain hope. A kind of hope she had when she found out Kureno gathered up Hiro, Momiji, Kisa, Rin, and Haru to lay down the rules for them. Unfortunately for Akito and Kureno, Momiji wasn't quite informed of his.
Kureno walks down the curving roads within the Sohma Estate and stops at a small hut. It was a one-room house; everything was inside that one room. The kitchen, the bed, the table and as small as the building was, each item fit perfectly. After knocking on the door, he waits for it to open. Slowly, he rings the doorbell and stares at the door. "Mrs. Sokay…" Kureno whispers quietly with his natural tone of voice. He knocks once more and his eyes slowly close into a narrowed position. "Open the door Mrs. Sokay! It's me, Kureno, the former Rooster…" he calls as he walks closer to the door.
Opening at a slow pace, an elderly woman looks at Kureno with weary eyes and then she swings the door open a little more. "Ah… Coo-Reno…" she says weakly, her throat some what sore. She was fully aware that she had pronounced his name the way it would be found in a dictionary instead of just saying it as a complete proper name. "What do I owe for this pleasant, yet rare, visit? Or… do you need something? Did Akito-san send you here for some sort of business?" She pauses for a deep inhalation and looks at the ground that separated the two of them. "Come inside boy…" Mrs. Sokay says demandingly and turns her back on Kureno, she walks over to the table that was just inches from her bed. Taking a seat at the table, she gestures to the other chair across from her, at the other end of the table. "Sit down, Kureno…" lady Sokay suggests rather forcefully. Kureno takes a seat, just as she had requested and sits quietly as she continues to speak, "Now, tell me what you need or want. I'm sure that's why you have graced me with your appearance…" Her expression was that of a very stern old woman. She was a very respected person within the walls of the Sohma Residency, yet there was never a mention of her in any type of association or membership. She refused to be a part of anything Akito was in charge of.
"I came here to ask you for some assistance. And… an object…" his voice gradually sifts into the air, dissipating with the serious expression on Mrs. Sokay's face. "Please, it is under Akito's orders that I get something done. And… you were the first person I thought to go to," Kureno's voice rises awkwardly, giving Sokay-san a start. He gets to his feet and stares down Mrs. Sokay with an angry expression. "You must give the item to me… you have to!" he demands, eyes flaring and practically burning her skin with just a few blinks.
Mrs. Sokay gathers herself up and rises to her own feet, as weak as she is at the moment. "Are you giving me orders now, Kureno?" She asks curiously, anger hidden in the hollow parts of her throat. At the sight of Kureno's slight nod, she narrows her eyes, walks over to the bedside opposite of her, and digs through a small dresser, pulling a wide variety of items out of the drawers. "It seems…that I cannot find said object…" her voice was quiet as she spoke almost under her breath. She filters through the items that she had taken from the dresser and comes upon a black velvet pouch with various symbols –in the color blue- embroiled in the material of the small sack. "I… suppose I was wrong…" this time she spoke a little louder; loud enough for Kureno to comprehend her words. "Here it is, boy…" she calls weakly, walking over to him with the pouch swinging from her index finger.
Stopping in front of Kureno, she sighs a little and pulls the item from its small, yet finely protective purse. Holding it delicately in her hands, Mrs. Sokay takes the handle in her hand and brings it up so that it stood vertical between her fingers. "What would Akito want with such a symbolic mirror?" She whispers to Kureno in a questioning form.
Kureno snatches the mirror from her clutches then follows up by yanking the pouch out of her other hand. He slips the mirror into its safe casing and drops that pouch into his pocket, letting it sink as deep as the pocket would allow. "Akito has her plans and I have the plans that I am s'pose to follow. Any questions about what I do…are to be asked to Akito. It is only under her authority and permission that her objectives are revealed," he turns around after addressing the smaller points of the current matters. Leaving the small house without another word, he listens to Mrs. Sokay curse loudly just before she slams her door shut. "It seems she didn't like my answers, but… I didn't like her nosey questions…" a soft smirk slips across his face as he walks back up the path toward the house Akito has always been a residence of.
The door opens just before he reaches the house and he is greeted by none other then Shigure. His smile was so false that it gave Kureno the sudden urge to question his arrival "What's going on, Shigure?" he asks as he walks up the small amount of steps to go past Shigure, trying to sound as if he weren't curious. "I mean, did Akito summon you here? Or did you just come to this house on your own?" Kureno's voice became more and more inquisitive with each question.
"Are you trying to say that I'm not welcome here, Kure-kun?" He says friendlily and drapes his arm across his shoulders as if they were great pals. "Well, even if I'm not welcome," he groans, dropping his hands into his own pockets, watching Kureno and following him, "I have news that will make Akito very happy and make her act right away…" he grins and hurries up the steps and into the house, to slump into the couch in the living room, "Go get Akito…" Shigure orders carelessly waving his hand around, not taking notice of the wobbling lamp that was on the small table beside the couch.
Kureno glares at Shigure quickly then trudges off toward the room that Akito sat in quietly; she was practically captivated by some pointless sitcom. "…and then you bring the sword around to your enemies neck. Gently drag the sword down and watch your enemy die before you in a pool of blood and-," the host on the television spoke clearly with a strange sense of enjoyment, and after noticing Kureno's entrance into the room, Akito hurriedly shuts off the tube by the remote and looks at him from her bed. "What do you want Kureno? You know this time is always sanctioned for what I want to do! Why do you even risk it all just to come into my room to irritate the hell out of me?" Her voice was booming and it even reached the ears of good old Shigure who continued to sit calmly on the couch, getting extremely comfortable.
"Akito…. Shigure-san has ordered me to come get you… I'm guessing it's important. I have probably just as important news." Kureno's voice was as quiet as ever when he spoke as if to make sure it was only Akito that could grasp his words. "Please…it's the object I knew you were going to ask for sooner or later. It'll grant you the abilities required to enter…. the dream world," the moment he was done talking, Akito leapt to her feet at an incredible speed and was walking towards him quickly, feeling around his pockets. "Its in my pocket… but…the casing around it is so smooth and soft that it would make anyone believe they were holding nothing in their hand…" Kureno was proud of what he'd done and he knew that before long Akito would be gratefully thanking him over and over again.
Instead, Akito whispers, "Let's go see if Shigure's news can compete with yours, shall we?" Kureno angrily follows her as she exits the room with gliding types of steps. The both of them enter the living room only to find Shigure lying on her -once clean- couch, his feet on one of the arms. "What're you doing you stupid buffoon?" Akito questions roughly, approaching the couch with an increasing acceleration. Stopping at the couch, just in front of Shigure, Akito growls at him, full of raw and strengthening rage. "Get your lazy dog ass up and tell me what you want to!" Akito encourages him, her eyes narrow as they locked on to him as if he were a target.
Shigure sighs and shrugs a little, sitting up for a moment, then drags himself to his feet. "The news is huge. And, even though you may already know of it, I thought it would be fair of me to inform you anyway," Shigure waves his hands around a little just as playful as always. "Now…I know you are probably upset that Kyo has gotten loose, and as you may say 'there's a monster on the streets', but I know exactly where he is. And, if there was ever a stupid cat, it's him…" the dog of the juunishi allows his voice to trail away dully, as something he saw through a window caught his attention. "Um… Akito, why is the old cat flying past your window? A ghostly visit or something?" Shigure says trying to calm his pulsing nerves.
Simultaneously, Akito and Kureno glance out the window and the both of them sigh. Kureno obviously was remembering what Akito had said earlier in the day. With a slight exhalation, Akito states, "All of this is that little brats doing. She had a dream last night I guess and broke all my beautiful mirrors. MY PROPERTY! I should break her face the same way she broke that glass!" Akito's voice was suddenly high-pitched and was making Kureno and Shigure wince at the sound.
"I think you are getting far too extreme my dear Akito. Just calm down and take deep…non-killing related, breaths. Calm your nerves," Shigure whispers, nervous as he tells her to calm down. It was as if he were giving her an order. In the sanctuary called the 'Sohma Estate' Shigure was 'ranked' far lower then Akito, the only people the Juunishi ranked higher then –if it was possible to rank the inhabitants- was the people that weren't a part of the Zodiac.
With a sleek grin, Akito rubs her hands together, sits in a one-person chair, and twiddles her thumbs weakly. "If my plan gets screwed up any further… I …"
"Don't talk like that…" Kureno says softly, kneeling down beside the chair, taking her hand quickly in his. "Everything will work out the way you planned…. Patience may be key…" he offers as a consolation.
Shigure looks at the both of them and raises his left eyebrow, rubbing his chin with his right hand. "I dare say… you all are planning something and I don't know what it is…" His voice was quiet and prying. He was like a human crowbar that dug into others lives just so he can consume the information they spoke. Receiving an awkward stare from both Akito and Kureno, he goes on, "Let me in on the plan. I bet I can be of some use. Seeing as I know where Kyo is, it may come in handy…"
At that point in time, Akito was a little zoned out, up until the second she heard Kyo's name mentioned by Shigure. "Where is that ferocious feline?" Akito barks viciously at Shigure, tossing herself out of the chair just to stomp towards the dog of the juunishi. "Tell me now, Shigure!" She demands, stomping her left foot on the beige carpeted floor. Her leg gives out and Kureno grabs her swiftly, pulling her frail body to its feet and holding her there. "Just…answer my question, Shigure…. so I can get some sleep…" Her voice runs away with the passing breeze that was just outside.
"Tell me what you're planning. Tell me why I am seeing ghosts among us…" Shigure responds sternly, his face bearing the uneasiness of a serious expression.
Kureno sits Akito down on the couch Shigure was on previously, and walks up to the Dog. Meeting eye to eye, the former rooster glares at him, "Don't give your Lord ultimatums. You are just dirt compared to her glory; she's a mountain and you're the crumbs that fall!" his voice was loud once again as it was a very rare sight and also painful on the opposite person's part.
"You got to work on your yelling, Kure-kun…" Shigure waves his index finger jokingly and smiles softly, "Don't worry, I'll tell Akito-san even if she refuses to let me in on her mischievous objectives and what not…" He tilts his head and blinks lovingly at the two of them, "See, I'm man… and women's best friend. Aren't I cute?" The clown side of Shigure finally reveals itself and begins to bounce around in his eyes that were becoming more and more animated by the second.
XxX
Kyo and Tohru sit in the living room quietly watching Mogeta on the television set. While doing this they get distracted by Kisa and Katsuro's constant running and screaming. They were playing tag during the new episode of Mogeta and it was seriously irritating the hell out of Kyo. "SIT DOWN GOD DAMMIT!" Kyo shouts, his now closed hand twitching and pulsing with anger. The two children drop instantly and stare at the television silently watching Mogeta take on an evil soup can and the mistress of some strange looking castle. "This episode is getting dumber by the second…" Kyo grumbles under his breath, looking around blankly. "I wonder if she's okay…" he adds, saying this much quieter then his preceding sentence.
Tohru smiles at him and then rubs her head a little. "I'm feeling much better Kyo-kun!" A large smile spreads across her face and it was genuine, no strings attached. He instantly blushes and looks at her with the same expression as when he was with her in the forest when they were walking home such a long time ago. It was the first time he was really alone with her. She told him… I love you! I mean… I always loved the cat from the Zodiac! He smiles and very lightly, he taps her on top of the head with his fist. She smiles and looks back at the television. "Run Mogeta-san! Run!" Tohru calls helplessly, her hands cupped together as if she were praying for the Anime character's safety.
The front door creaks open and in comes Yuki and Haru. They gradually enter the living room and sit in two armchairs that were side by side, talking to each other the entire time.
"Hello…" Tohru waves a little and drops her hand quickly, "Oh… I'm sorry. I hope I didn't disturb anything. I mean… I'm just so sorry…" she sighs and looks at them sadly. The bandage Kyo tied around her hand was still there and so was the bandage that Yuki wrapped around her elbow area. The bump's swelling diminished to nothing.
Haru smiles and looks at Tohru. "You weren't intruding… believe me. Actually, we were talking about Momiji and Hiro," the moment the two kids heard Hiro's name they whipped their heads up and looked attentively at Haru and Yuki, "they are upset about something but they refuse to even crack. They wont say one word and to be honest, it's quite annoying. I almost turned black because of Momiji's random crying! It's a sob story whenever I come near Momiji's house!" Haru slaps his forehead a little and rubs the spot he hit to see if it hurt even the slightest. "I just don't understand… he's going to make me worry! Damn kid!"
Kyo gets up and walks over to them, leaving Tohru on the couch by herself. "Watch the anime, Tohru… I'll be right back…" he says softly and exits the living area, just to enter a bathroom down the hallway, the last door.
Opening it, he walks in and closes it, locking it behind him and jiggling the knob to make sure of this. Finally, he turns around and looks into the mirror, almost collapsing against the sink. He stops himself from falling by taking hold of the edge of the sink and looks down into the drain. His eyes followed the cork that plugged it up so that too much water didn't get into the pipes. One circle he made after another. "One… two… three…" soon enough three became five and five became ten. Eventually, he looks back up and into the mirror. His face was almost a pale white but it was clearly unnoticeable in the darkness of the living room because they had set it up so that they could watch Mogeta peacefully.
Something was bothering him and he didn't know what. Deep inside the pit of his stomach, it was aching. The terrible feeling of nausea and pain was mixing together and soon enough he found himself pulling the lids of the toilet bowl up and puking into it. He drops to his knees and continues to throw up into the toilet, flushing every few moments. His vision was blurry and his body felt both cold and warm at the same time. At one time, he'd have the chills but then his body would rise to an extremely hot temperature. Sweat beaded down his forehead as well as his arms and even down his back and chest.
Kyo pulls his shirt off and tosses it to the side. The abnormal heat was unbearable it was like the sun was hovering above him to act as his own personal oven. "What… the hell is going…on…?" he groans in pain and wraps his arms around his stomach tightly before throwing up once more into the –now terribly dirty- toilet. His fingers run down his sides and he got the feeling that he was touching every bone and that if he were to push too hard they would shatter just like glass slammed against the wall or dropped onto the floor.
XxX
Akito laughs proudly as she sits in her room. She was at her dresser, holding the mirror Kureno had taken from Mrs. Sokay in her left hand as she peered around it to look into the large mirror that was connected to the dresser. The small, hand held mirror was projecting a picture as clear as day onto the large mirror. That hologram type image was of Kyo suffering in the bathroom at Shigure's house and the ground level of the house.
"Does it work to your likings Akito?" Kureno asks softly hoping that he will be rewarded for his efforts.
"It is a delightful object…" Akito's voice trails off as she laughs evilly at the pain Kyo is feeling. His body was shaking in the mirror and within seconds, he was lying on the cold tile in the bathroom, in pain. Kyo soon had blood slowly oozing out of the old wounds on his back.
There's chapter 16. This is the LONGEST chapter I have ever typed I think… so… I hope you all enjoy. I'm sorry if its hard to follow. "
:THANKS:
DarkKyo:As always I love your reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses. Thanks for the wonderful reviews so far!
KittLuvr: The importance of the 15th chapter will be explained later on in the story. Sad to say that the answer was not in this chapter. I'm sorry that you had to read last chapter a lot " I had a feeling it was a little confusing. Thanks for the review! And I hope you continue to enjoy!
Suma Susaki: Yes, Tohru's dream is very significant to the story. I can't really say much more for now, but you'll find out sooner or later. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! And I hope you enjoy this one! Thank you for reviewing for such a long time!
Turdle: I hope more ppl review XD. I think you're the first person to read/review my new chapter once they're posted. Haha. I hope you continue to enjoy and thank you very much for the review!